Re: [tied] Re: Names of god

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 9577
Date: 2001-09-18

The goddess's name is <il.a:> or <id.a:> (with a short <i>). As a common noun, this means "refreshment, comfort", or a libation prepared from milk. This is certainly a cognate of Avestan i:z^a:, given the complete identity of meaning. The formal relation is not quite clear to me.
 
In <agnim i:l.e purohitam ...> "I laud Agni the foremost (priest)", <i:l.e> is the 1sg. (with a middle ending) of <i:d.-> (Rigvedic <i:l.->) 'ask, request; praise'. I wonder if it is related to <is.-> 'seek, request' (<icchati>, Slavic *iskati, etc.): *is-d- > *iz^d- > i:d.-
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: liberty@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:13 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Names of god

--- In cybalist@......, "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@......> wrote:
> What are the IE or PIE cognates? "a god" is ['eloah] in Hebrew and
> ['ilaah] in Arabic.
>
> The first r.ca of R.gveda says:
> agnim i_l.e purohitam
>
> What does i_l.e mean? Kubera is aid.a_vid.a or ailavila; godesses
> names include: il.a_, mahi_, sarasvati_, bha_rati_. What is the
> etymology of il.a_?

There would be no I.E. cognates for 'eloah or 'a l-laah since Hebrew
and Arabic are Semitic.  Proto-Indo-Iranian *izhda_ results in Indo-
Aryan i_d.a_ and Av. i_zha_ "sacrificial libation", though I don't
understand why Avestan should have lost the "d" here (note that I'm
using "zh" to represent a post-alveolar voiced fricative).  In Vedic
-d.- is replaced with -l.-.  I assume that the goddess I_l.a_ is a
personification of the libation.  However Sanskrit also has the word
i_d.ya- "to be worshipped". Both are supposed to be from the I.E.
root *eis- which forms words pertaining to the sacred.
-David